Shanghai, May 10 (CNA) Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou said Thursday in Shanghai that his company will begin targeting consumers in China and will transform itself into a commerce-oriented company. Foxconn Technology Group, the main manufacturer for Apple Inc., is set to become a technology-oriented company from a manufacturing-based company, and "is now seeking to become a business and trade-oriented company," Guo said at the groundbreaking ceremony of Foxconn's China headquarters in Shanghai. The group will first target consumers in Shanghai through e-commerce initiatives, with some of the group's manufacturing centers being turned into domestic sales centers, he said. Shanghai is ranked the sixth most competitive financial center worldwide, he said, adding he is confident the city's ranking will soon be in the top two. Gou said the group has set a target for its revenue growth of 15 percent this year, and he is confident that the growth can exceed 10 percent. He also promised to offer better working conditions and pay for employees. Guo explained that the group plans to cap employees' extra working hours to 36 hours per month and to reduce working hours without cutting salaries. He also said Foxconn will introduce robots into the workforce to do repetitive work and help reduce the workload of employees. More than one million workers in China work at Foxconn. The group posted net profits of US$72.84 million in 2011, a huge jump from its net loss of US$218 million in 2010. Foxconn is one of only a few firms that continue to expand production in China amid the global economic downturn. The group has built new factories in a number of second-tier cities like Chengdu and Chongqing in Sichuan Province, and Zhengzhou in Henan Province. Construction of the Shanghai headquarters is scheduled to be completed in 2015, and are expected to serve as an e-commerce and R&D center in the Yangtze River Delta region for the group. (By Chou Hui-ying and Ann Chen)